Jacqueline Torres
The first female president at Pierce, Marie Young Martin, died in West Hills of natural causes Oct. 3. She was 96.
Martin led Pierce from 1966 to 1970, through times of war, civil unrest and dissent, through bra burnings and the breakthrough of human rights.
“She was a remarkable woman,” said Herb Ravetch, Pierce president from 1979 to 1985. “The first time she spoke to the faculty, everyone took notice. She stirred us with her words. We were all inspired by her.”
When Martin was president at Pierce, the Vietnam War raged on the other side of the world, and another war raged at home between those who supported the Vietnam action and those who believed it was wrong. That war of ideologies took place in town halls, in the streets, in Washington and at college campuses across the nation.
During that time, Martin embraced the right of students to protest and petition the government. According to Ravetch, she laid out a plan of action with her faculty to “sit and listen to what students had to say, to hear their arguments and allow students to voice them peacefully.”
Ravetch remembered an instance when protesting students seemed intent on taking down the American flag. He remembered Martin keeping the peace and protecting the flag by telling the students, “It’s the symbol of the freedom and the right you have to protest.”
According to her son, Bill Martin, when she was pursuing her doctorate at USC she was told there was no place for a woman in community college administration.
“She told them she would prove them wrong,” he said.
“She was a pioneer in the field in a time when there weren’t many woman presidents of anything,” said Jo Drake, a former Pierce faculty member who now lives in Oregon. “Marie was petite, but very strong. She could handle being a pioneer, and it took a lot of courage to even try.”
After her term at Pierce, Martin was appointed to a position in President Richard Nixon’s cabinet as Director of Community Colleges in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. She traveled extensively as part of that job, including to Europe, Micronesia and Guam.
According to Bill Martin, what his mother really liked about Pierce was that it reminded her of her home on a farm in Northern California.
Marie Martin was born in Ontario, Canada. Her fatherís family emigrated there from Ireland during the potato famine. She moved with her family to Turlock, California in her teens where they raised grapes, melons and chickens.
Martin is survived by her son, Bill Martin and, according to him, by her legacy as a model of a woman in a manís world.